Thursday mid-morning we headed out to meet up with a bunch of our riding buddies in Knoxville for the weekend of riding in TN.
Once the others showed up, we all went out for a bite.. We all jammed it our buddies van&#8230;
Seating was a little strange as SmokinJoe sat on the commode!!

Bellies full now time for tire kicking&#8230;.
a little roll call..Highbinder/DaveWeaver/SmokinJoe
Friday Morning sure was frosty !!
We all grabbed a bite as we waited for a few more riders to show up..
Bellies full... It will be a good day for a ride...
As we hit the back roads to get out of Knoxville..
And off to Ozone Falls ..
My buddy took this photo.. Yes I did get yelled at by Highbinder...
After the falls it was off to The Calf Killer Creek road..
A very cool road.....
Then Dinner @ The Loveless Cafe
The food is nothing really fancy.. Just home type cooking..
Always take time for that Family photo..
Off to Natchez Trace Parkway.. One of the few roads that Don & I have never been on...
We only rode about 50 miles of it.Will have to do 444 miles of it one day...
Our last stop before heading into Lexington,Tn.
Friday was a sun up to sun down ride!!
We rolled into the motel well after dark....
Another group of Valk riders where waiting there for us!
I'm just not sure what theses guys are looking at and smiling ?
BigAL being BigAl Believe me .. It&#8217;s a full time job&#8230;
Joe telling Thumper that he lite the wrong end of his cigar..
Thumper just got the news that all the "Shine is gone !!
It was a good night of cock n bull !!
Saturday morning it was off to Shiloh !!!
With one little detour to Adamsville.
To the site where BufordH.Pusser was killed..And that ever so important group shot...
SmokinJoe has a G.G.Grand father at the cemetery in Shiloh..
Joe was sure digging LadyFame at Shiloh...
You just can't take the boy out of the man....
We wondered around the Battlefield..
Number of dead buried at Shiloh...The two-day battle, April 6-7, 1862, resulted in 24,000 casualties!!
All flags were at Half Mast due to Thursday shootings..
As we waited for all the riders to gather back up ..
I showed a few of my fancy moves and wresled Highbinder to the ground !!

At this point CrazyHorse took the lead ...
Then it was off to the other side of TN..To the Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park .. The one museum was closed so off we went to the top where there was another museum.. They had a few native critters there...
As we were at the highest point in Tn..
We hear rifle shots !! Come to find out ,that there is a muzzle loader shoot with Civil war rifles !!! So off the mountain we go 25 valks strong...
The folks were very happy to see us as we were to see them shoot the black powders..
I even got a chance to hold a a .68 cal smooth bore original rifle used in the Civil War !!!
It was just as long as I am tall !!
This turned out to be a cool shot..
Once again we arrived back at the motel well after dark...
Sunday morning was a grand day ... Said our see ya laters...
Early morning shadow riders.
We had a great ride home ..The weather all weekend was wonderful for Nov.
Our total was 1221 miles...
Pulled in our drive to see a wonderful Nov.SunSet...
Here's a link to more photos....Shiloh Run

The Natchez is a lot like the BRP...From what I could tell... But bigger sweepers... I do recommend to check out The LoveLess Cafe..
A lot of Nashville singers have stopped there... Plus a lot of cool art work..

I showed a few of my fancy moves and wresled Highbinder to the ground !!

Click to expand...

Haha looks like you came out on top this time! Thanks for bringing us along; I'm feeling the fun. Great pictures, too. Theres' living on the edge, then there's sitting on the edge of a cliff! Glad you didn't slip and fall....

Haha looks like you came out on top this time! Thanks for bringing us along; I'm feeling the fun. Great pictures, too. Theres' living on the edge, then there's sitting on the edge of a cliff! Glad you didn't slip and fall....

Click to expand...

It's something I have done my whole life ... I just have to sit/stand on the edge..
It really bugs Highbinder (Don)...
I'm part mountain goat It's in my blood

It started out with our buddy Pen showed up on our door step Thursday
Hey Pen do you know we have a big storm coming ??
We all felt it was best that he stayed a few days till this storm passed...

I needed to get eggs for morning and Italian sausages for their supper...
Plus I just needed to get out and ride.. Thinking it could be a while

This storm was coming you could feel it in the air
I left the farm around noonish
All was good on the roads when I left.
Then as I hit Bluefield,Va. the weather started to hit..
Sleet and snow ... I ran into Food City to get what I needed...
Still sleeting & snowing as I load TheBeast up throw my leg over the saddle
and off I go back to the farm... It's about 55 miles round trip..
The roads were wet but didn't appear icy ...
As I roll into Tazewell OMG!!! It was a mess...
It must have started snowing right after I left the farm.. At a rate of 2" an hour..
The plows had been out but only to put salt & sand down..
The slush was bad.... Our main road now had 3" of slush ruts and was icy to boot!! And snowing big time....
I just took my time, as all the other traffic was doing the same..
My 10 mile ride home from Tazewell was one Helluva an ADV.,It took 45 min.,
slipping and sliding my way home...

I get to our driveway only to find it wasn't plowed yet!!!:eek1
I look and said yeah I think I can make that ... WRONG ..

I get over our bridge, hmm that went well I think to self, as I didn't slide off the edge...
Ugh the first hill stopped me cold. It started a spinning and sliding !!! WTF !!!
Once I stopped sliding .. A thought comes to mind I wish I had studs ..
I got it stopped as it was going backwards....OK I didn't get it stopped ~LOL It came to a stop :huh
That really is an odd feeling you have NO control at all !!!
I was very glad that it was sliding towards the bank and not the edge side..

Then here comes my Honey with the quad and the plow !! Yee Haw !!

I tried once more and got up to the hill... Nope couldn't make it up that one...
This time I'm really sliding and sideways!!!! Yikes that was hairy .
Don hooks the winch to my engine guard , He is in reverse on the quad. My bike is spinning and sliding ..But we get up to the gate, Yeah!!

I sat there as he plowed the road a bit more... This is the only flat spot on the whole driveway... Outside of the bridge at the bottom
Don returns looks at me gives me a
This time I knew TheBeast could do the rest of our drive unassisted..
Fingers crossed ...

It spun and slipped but made it all the way from the gate to the garage !!
And up the last 2 hills...Dang that was a helluva ride !!!
I got to the top and yelled !! THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT !!!!
That would be my last big ADVenture for the year of 09 I think .
I just wish I took a few pix of my bike sitting sideways on our driveway..
I only took pix at the garage Lets face it, grabbing the camera
While your looking at your bike and saying WTF am I going to do now
But ya know I had a Blast !!!

The all fenders where packed tight with snow n ice

To bad a bunch of snow fell off the bike while I was getting up the driveway.

This is from Friday after 14" of snow fell ..This is the flat spot @ the gate..

The total length from bottom to the top is apx. 1900'

Here is a shot of the two hills that gave me the hardest time ,
the upper one was the winch part....

I have many great adventures with this bike !!
And loved each and everyone .....

A run to TX for the best BBQ Brisket And The Gathering of Fools .
Or
The first big ride of the year after a a really bad winter ..

We headed out of VA. @ 630 am...Wed morning, Not the earliest but a good time..
I love early morning riding
Our neighbors met up with us down the road .
It looked to be a grand day..
It was early evening when we made it to Hattiesburg, MS just about 700 miles ..
We all where getting hungry for supper, so we grabbed a bite then the rains came..
So we had already stopped why not just get a room for the night We all agreed
Thursday morning looked great Bit windy but blue skies
Timed it just right thru Baton Rouge I couldnt believe how full the Bayou was this time..
It really looked different then last year .
The winds really picked up by Winnie as we picked up 124/87 The Beach
Heading to the Bolivar Free Ferry I was really amazed just how much they have cleaned up ,and with the rebuilding progress..
That area was hit by Hurricane Ike Total devastation
They have come a long way since last year , really good progress they now have fuel
We had a bit of a wait for the ferry about a half hour Not to bad we just made it before rush hour..
I really get a kick from all the sea birds
The Gulf and The Bay had a good deal of white caps..
The last year it was calm.. So this was a blast for me Salt spray was great
Just glad the Valks dont get that all the time

Ah made it to Friendswood TX For the Gathering Of Fools BBQ .
Time to sit a talk about the ride to TX..
I found this little fella..
Then I saw this .. Hey I can reach the ground !!

Friday was hey lets check out downtown Galveston, and ride on the beach
Our little group stopped at Benno's Seafood for dinner time..
I had the best Mudbugs.. I have ever ate
They were so big even the claws had meat
After that we all went to the beach
Now watching big Valks go through a deep drifts of sand was a blast
Most were game to get there bikes on the beach
Nothing like a CatHerders on the Beach
After all that fun it was back to the gathering for Gumbo and drinks and tire kicking

Saturday HotGlue had the cooker going early already
Time to go check out Brazos Bend State Park to see some Gators..
Warning signs all over the place
To bad these folks didnt heed the warnings; they are now gator poo!!
Oh wow did we see Gators and a lot of them !!
Even saw some little RedEars(Turtles) Keeping away from the Gators..
They have some cool boardwalks too..
Very cool I do recommend checking out the Park they have camping too..

Back to GOTF for Supper and the big shindig
Here Have some... :tb
This year the Charity was The Lions Club Kids Camp. If I can recall a total of $ 3,400 was raised
Don's plate sure was Full..
My plate was SeaTrout and a side Plus some of the best Whiskey Psst it's home made

Sunday was just a hang out and relax, do laundry and pack up..
Did get to meet a fellow Inmate !
I think his name is Rick , But he does have this Motocampers.com site
It was great that he could get away for the weekend..

Ok so we all stayed up kind of late
No biggy, after all sleep is over rated..

Monday morning ...
Our Host woke up at 5 am to see us off
It must have been a bit early for Mark ,He did a morning Jig for us ..
My Black Valk hit a milestone..On the way home..
It rolled over a 100k.. It's like having a NEW bike !
We hit a few light showers on Monday.. Nothing bad..
Even took this cool shop of 3 abreast..
We stopped for the night on the south side of Birmingham, AL..

On Tuesday morning it look like it was going to be nice..
But once we hit the road for about an hour the rains came and NEVER left..
That made the last 400+ miles in rain all the way .
It was a bit chilly had the Gerbings liner and gloves going ..
Ah heat